If you thought the art history of the American Revolution meant old men in wigs silently sitting for their portraits, Zara Anishanslins outsized assembly of contrarian, conspiratorial, and colorful-in-every-sense characters will blow your mind. -- Woody Holton, author of Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution Truly a revelation. The lives of Prince Demah, Robert Edge Pine, and Patience Wright have long been hidden in plain sight, overshadowed by those of more familiar artists from their era like Gilbert Stuart and the Peale family. In The Painter's Fire, Zara Anishanslin skillfully brings to light the contributions of this defiant trio who supported the American Revolution from both sides of the Atlantic. -- Flora Fraser, author of The Washingtons The Painter's Fire takes the new appreciation of the American Revolution as a transatlantic civil war into the realm of art, both high and popular. Suddenly we see women and people of African descent in vivid color. This is cutting-edge scholarship as much as it is a gripping narrative about innovative artists. Insisting that painters and sculptors were 'central to the making of revolution,' Zara Anishanslin reclaims patriotism for a diverse group of cosmopolitans. -- David Waldstreicher, author of The Odyssey of Phillis Wheatley We know the American Revolution was fought with words and with arms. But with art? In her creative new book, Zara Anishanslin highlights how painting and sculpture could be surprisingly effective tools in the fight for freedom. No less importantly, she shows how artists of every stripemen and women, the exiled and the enslavedwere passionately committed to the cause of American liberty. -- Serena Zabin, author of The Boston Massacre: A Family History Zara Anishanslin skillfully imagines the lives of Prince Demah, Patience Wright, and Robert Edge Pine, combining detailed research on these largely forgotten artists with a broad look at their social and political contexts. Although little of their work surviveslost to us through neglect, accident, and condescensiontheir drive to create and to serve the cause of liberty reveal complexities of class, race, and international intrigue that deepen our understanding of the American Revolutionary period. -- Erica Hirshler, Croll Senior Curator of American Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston A stirring, thoroughly researched history. * Kirkus Reviews *